Chargers continue Champaign dominance as Maroons lose QB

CHAMPAIGN — There was potential.

After watching Centennial celebrate in front of the whole town at Tommy Stewart Field in their last five meetings, Champaign Central looked like it had a legitimate chance to turn the tide on Friday night.

George Rouse connected with David Riley for a 23-yard touchdown to give the Maroons a 7-0 lead not even one minute into the game.

The Chargers responded with a long, methodical drive, capped off by a 5-yard touchdown run from Zi'yir Aker. A missed extra point had Central leading 7-6 at the end of the first quarter.

“We were right there,” Central senior receiver David Hasenstab said.

Late in that first quarter, however, a key injury halted all of Central’s momentum, and Centennial took advantage to win their sixth consecutive battle for Champaign 39-15.

“It never gets old,” Centennial senior quarterback Kellen Davis-Foltz said of beating Central. “A lot of people doubted us and didn’t think we were going to win this game. It just felt good to go out there and show what we could do. This is the way we want to play Centennial football, and we did a great job showing that. Going out with a win for my senior year, can’t be happier than that.”

It happened with 3 minutes and 41 seconds left on the clock in the first quarter. Holding a one-point lead, Rouse scrambled to his left and lunged past the first-down marker as a Charger defender’s helmet collided with his right knee. The Maroons (0-2) moved the chains to keep the drive alive, but their starting quarterback and captain laid on his back, wincing in pain.

Rouse had to be helped off the field, and it was soon evident he wouldn’t be reentering the game. Throughout the rest of the first half, teammates and coaches hugged him and prayed with him as he sat on the training table and later gingerly paced the sideline on crutches.

“We lost our leader,” Hasenstab said. “He’s our guy. He’s my ride or die. It sucks.”

Central coach Matt Leskis said he was in disbelief after seeing Rouse go down. He couldn’t say if he would miss more time this season, but he’s “hoping for the best.” As are the Chargers (1-1), namely Davis-Foltz, who is a close childhood friend of Rouse’s.

“George is a great player. He came out and showed strength,” Davis-Foltz said. “That’s my dog, and it would have been fun to play him at least one more time. I know he’s going through it right now, and I hope he keeps his head up so he can finish his senior year strong.”

With Rouse on the sideline, the Maroons never regained that first-quarter mojo offensively, and Centennial rattled off 20 unanswered points.

Davis-Foltz ran one into the end zone a couple possessions into the second quarter to give the Chargers their first lead of the night. That was the start of five straight scoring drives for Centennial. The next three came through the air, as Davis-Foltz hit Plamedie Ibinimion for 31 yards, Elliott Kato for 37 yards and Ibinimion again for 22 yards. Darell Dugar wrapped up the Charger scoring with a 4-yard scamper late in the fourth quarter.

“Plenty of weapons,” Davis-Foltz said of what he has at his disposal offensively. “They’re all young and a little inexperienced, but as the season goes on, you’re going to see them make a lot more plays, and we’re going to keep rolling on offense like we did (Friday). We can pound the ball, we can throw the ball, we feel like we can do whatever we want.”

All that scoring came after struggling for much of the first half, most of which was due to the Chargers shooting themselves in the foot. There were numerous unsportsmanlike conduct and unnecessary roughness penalties in the first quarter as well as the start of the second. Centennial coach Kyle Jackson said the emotions of rivalry week got the best of his players at first.

“There is such a thing as being overhyped or too fired up, and I think we were there in the first quarter,” Jackson said. “They’ve been pretty fired up the last few days, and I kind of let that go. You don’t want to take away their fire — maybe we do, I don’t know — but it’s part of the nature of this week. The emotions are running high, and that’s the nature of the game. Once we got settled down, relaxed and started playing football and not worrying about all the other stuff, we did pretty well.”

Davis-Foltz completed 12 of 19 passes for 165 yards and three touchdowns to go along with his 84 rushing yards on eight carries. Ibinimion and Kato led the receiving corps with four catches apiece for a combined 148 yards. Aker rushed 18 times for 136 yards, and Dugar added 51 yards on nine carries.

The Maroons were able to find the end zone one more time late in the third quarter when Mark Johnson passed to Daniel Sago for a red-zone touchdown. Leskis said he saw good things from Johnson under center after a couple miscues early, but it was too little too late by the time he settled in.

“That’s who we are,” Hasenstab said of Central’s first-quarter performance. “People will read the scoreboard and see 39-15, but we’re better than that. Those first couple drives, that’s who we are.”

Centennial’s win gave it a 28-24-1 advantage in the all-time series between the crosstown rivals. Since 2021, the Chargers have solidified themselves as the team to beat in Champaign, which is a title they don’t take for granted.

“We take that very seriously, and we want to keep that spot,” Jackson said. “We put in a lot of work to get where we have. Going back to where we started six years ago, there have been a lot of players who put in a lot of effort to build the program to where we’re at now. We take a lot of pride in that, and we enjoy it.”